A Collection of Kate Chopin’s Short Stories

by Kate Chopin

Kate Chopin (1850-1904) was an American author who was considered a major influence on some of the feminist authors of the 20th century. Chopin’s most famous work is The Awakening, a novel that is seen as a landmark work of early feminism. This version of Chopin’s Collection of Short Stories includes a table of contents and the following 11 short Beyond the Bayou Ma’ame Pelagie Désirée’s Baby A Respectable Woman The Kiss A Pair of Silk Stockings The Locket A Reflection At the ‘Cadian Ball The Storm The Story of an Hour

Genres: Short Stories, Classics, Fiction

42 pages, Paperback

First published September 15, 2013

About the author

Kate Chopin was an American author whose fiction grew out of the complex cultures and contradictions of Louisiana life, and she gradually became one of the most distinctive voices in nineteenth century literature. Raised in a household shaped by strong women of French and Irish heritage, she developed an early love for books and storytelling, and that immersion in language later shaped the quiet precision of her prose. After marrying and moving to New Orleans, then later to the small community of Cloutierville, she absorbed the rhythms, customs, and tensions of Creole and Cajun society, finding in its people the material that would feed both her sympathy and her sharp observational eye. When personal loss left her searching for direction, she began writing with the encouragement of a family friend, discovering not only a therapeutic outlet but a genuine vocation. Within a few years, her stories appeared in major magazines such as The Atlantic Monthly, Vogue, and The Century, where readers encountered her local-color sketches, her portrayals of women navigating desire and constraint, and her nuanced depictions of life in the American South. She published two story collections, Bayou Folk and A Night in Acadie, introducing characters whose emotional lives were depicted with unusual honesty. Her short fiction often explored subjects others avoided, including interracial relationships, female autonomy, and the quiet but powerful inner conflicts of everyday people. That same unflinching quality shaped The Awakening, the novel that would later become her most celebrated work. At the time of its publication, however, its frank treatment of a married woman’s emotional and sensual awakening unsettled many critics, who judged it harshly, yet Chopin continued to write stories that revealed her commitment to portraying women as fully human, with desires and ambitions that stretched beyond the confines of convention. She admired the psychological clarity of Guy de Maupassant, but she pushed beyond his influence to craft a voice that was unmistakably her own, direct yet lyrical, and deeply attuned to the inner lives of her characters. Though some of her contemporaries viewed her themes as daring or even improper, others recognized her narrative skill, and within a decade of her passing she was already being described as a writer of remarkable talent. Her rediscovery in the twentieth century led readers to appreciate how modern her concerns truly were: the struggle for selfhood, the tension between social expectations and private longing, and the resilience of women seeking lives that felt authentically theirs. Today, her stories and novels are widely read, admired for their clarity, emotional intelligence, and the boldness with which they illuminate the complexities of human experience.

Reviews

[Jae · Rating 4 out of 5]

audio-book narrated by Victoria McGee

I always enjoy Kate Chopin's thoughtful stories set in Louisiana in the late 1800s - early 1900s. They mostly portray women behaving in ways that differ from the social expectations for females during this era. Here they are beautifully read by Victoria McGee.

[Hannah · Rating 5 out of 5]

Honestly I am a Kate Chopin stan. Her stories range from hilarious to quietly devastating. "The Story of an Hour," one of my favorites, is basically a proto-femnist, antique AITA post -- I cackled with delight. She is a master of the closing line -- the end of "The Storm" slayed me.

[Lynn · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a great little collection. While some of the stories seem simplistic and probably targeted for women's magazine publication, others are a bit edgier -at least for the late 19th century- dealing with issues of desire, infidelity, issues of race and gender.

Chopin's strength is clearly her sense of irony. In several of her stories there is a tension between the character's inner desires and their outward actions, or between what they espouse and what they actually believe or have actually done. She does not seem to be a fan of marriage, and several of her stories deal with women who dream (if not act on) their desire to escape their marriage or betrothal. Sometimes this is subtle, sometimes not.

Kate Chopin may be considered a quasi-feminist, but she was clearly not an anti-racist. While race certainly does come up, Black characters are presented as formerly enslaved servants, referred to as 'darkey' or 'colored' and speak with a stereotypical dialect.
To be fair, Chopin uses dialect for many of the Louisianans of French of Creole heritage, as well. One of the things I did appreciate about this collection is that it shows the rich array of culture in that area, Black, White, French and Spanish, even if there is a lack of anything resembling equality.

I was a bit surprised by the graphic (for the times) lovemaking presented in The Storm, and wondered that it would have been published, especially by a woman. On further research, it was not: although written in 1898 it apparently was not published until the 1960's.

My favorites: Desiree's Baby, The Story of an Hour, The Storm, A Respectable Woman

[Sky P · Rating 5 out of 5]

Kate Chopin is such a classic feminist icon. Her storytelling is beyond her time yet tragically honest and beautiful. I enjoyed each of these stories but “The Story of an Hour” is always a special one for me. I read it in a college English Comp class. Little did I know I would be working with the people with “Heart Disease” like Mrs. Mallard about 10 years later after my 1st reading. My 2nd college degree is in Cardiovascular Ultrasound.

[Tambra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok small book but enjoyed what I read.

[Gretchen Connors · Rating 2 out of 5]

Provoking thoughts about many different political and social topics, a Collection of Kate Chopin’s Short Stories brings together an intriguing mix of some of her best works. One of the short stories, “Crossing the Bayou” is about a woman, La Folle, who is scared to cross the boundary from her house to the bayou that she lives by. She grew up in the same place, never crossing the line, until one day Cheri, a little boy she cared for and loved, got shot in a forest near by. La Folle knew the only way she could help him was to bring him to his home, which was across the bayou. La Folle was faced with her biggest fear, and had to decide if she could cross the bayou or not. A Collection of Short Stories by Kate Chopin is a truly interesting book filled with stories of slavery, wealth, greed, and more.

I would recommend this book of short stories to those who enjoyed the short stories during freshman year, such as the “Scarlet Ibis,” “The Flowers,” or “The Lottery.” I enjoyed all the short stories, with the exception of “Ma’ame Pelagie.” I found this French short story confusing due to the complicated names of each character and the book-like format. This story had “chapters” that were each about the same length as some of the other short stories in the collection. I found this to be hard to follow and continue to read. If this format is not hard for you, then I definitely recommend this collection. Kate Chopin is a very talented writer and I believe many people would enjoy her short stories.

[Simon Bailey · Rating 4 out of 5]

Stories of gender, race, memory, kinship, belonging and not belonging, in 19th century Louisiana. The shortest of short stories, yet leaving no 'and...?' and all fused with elegance, economy, and humour. The two highlights for me in this collection, is the dark humoured story of betrayal in The Storm and the evocative yet mysterious letting go of The Story of an Hour.